| On June 7th we left Fishing Bridge for our second site, at Madison
Campground, via West Thumb Geyser Basin and the Old Faithful basin. It was
quite cold and had obviously been snowing. The trees looked quite attractive
with just a touch of snow on the pines. The covering on the fallen pine logs
and the still extensive stands of dead trees are a reminder that we are
still above 8000ft and this is raw nature, carrying on as it has done for millennia. |  |
 | The road travels
about 20 miles along the edge of the lake and in the cold air you can see
the steam rising from the hot springs at the junction of West Thumb where
the road from the south enters the park from the Tetons. The Absaroka
mountains dominate the skyline. |
| It is quite hard to see some of the springs because of the steam
rising. But the water is very clear and blue or blue green as you peer into
the depths. This was one of the larger pools. Just
before we arrived a four year old grizzly bear had killed a young elk in
the basin. The wardens were busy roping off the walkways to give it plenty
of space before it left. It might have been tempted to attack if it thought
anyone was threatening its kill. Nature goes on despite us. |
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The thermal area is quite extensive although the permitted area
covered by the boardwalks is much smaller. But peering through the steam
creates a dangerous looking primeval image. If this is how life began I'm
glad it was a long time ago. |
| We moved
on, now turning north instead of south. The main park roads are shaped in a figure
eight but the top loop was closed because of road works. The east side where
we had been has rivers which all flow towards the Atlantic. The western side
crosses the continental divide and all the rivers there flow to the Pacific.
There was a side loop road which we travelled which gives views of the
Virginia Cascades which were quite impressive as the water poured off the
mountaintops and started its journey. There was quite a flood flowing. |
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So after about another 20 miles we arrived at the Old Faithful
Basin. This is quite extensive and is probably the most visited part of the
park. The west side is much more active than the east. I wasn't as
impressed with Old Faithful as I was with some of the other pools, geysers
etc. It is famous because it is one of the few really regular geysers
spouting more or less every 92 minutes. Thousands of tourists line up to watch from the
walkway (made from the waste of 4 million plastic bottles). Then they
clamber back on the buses and move on. |
| We spent several hours (in the cold wind and snow) wandering
along the several miles of boardwalks and paths looking at the various
different geysers, springs, fumaroles, colours and patterns. Some have
really vivid colours and others have unfathomable depths. Only a few spout
and most of them are not predictable (or frequent). Most are hot and a number
are actually boiling away (at 199°F at this
altitude). The pool on the left is quite large and is called Morning Glory
because of its beautiful colours. However its centre is shrinking because of
the debris thrown into it by vandals and other thoughtless visitors, thus
constricting the spring's flow. |
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 | This geyser didn't
actually blow while we were there but it was certainly huffing and puffing,
signs that the ground underneath is quite active. The column is the result
of years of deposits and gave this quite a characteristic look. This is the
Mortar. |
| The geyser on the
right of this picture is known as the Grotto. To me it looked more like that
little bone in your middle ear which maintains balance but, judging from the
old drawing displayed in front of it, it has changed shape considerably over
the years. There were hundreds of vents in the basin and not all of them
have names. They also come and go over the years. |  |
 | One which did blow while we were there is the 'Castle' geyser.
This doesn't go as often as Old Faithful but to me it was more impressive
since it was larger and it went on for longer. Again you can see the
deposits of calcium which have built up. This castle is some twenty feet
high and throws out prodigious amounts of water and steam. |
 | We moved on from Old
Faithful on our way to Madison but called in at two of the outlying areas.
The first two shots above are from Black Sands which I felt was one of the
most colourful groups. The last shot above comes from the Biscuit Basin at
the north end. We then travelled on and found two more areas (Midway and
Lower). The colours created by the water pouring into the stream were really
catching, indicative of the minerals and organisms present in these waters. |
| This was one of the largest and hottest pools we found at the
grand Prismatic spring. The waters flowed down to a stream at the rate of
4000 gals a minute and it was boiling. I made that to be at least a 100MW
power station if you could tap it without upsetting the delicate balance of
nature here. The steam was so thick it condensed on our glasses so we
couldn't see and we were soaked through in just a short walk. |  |
 | Finally just an
example of the vivid colours of the thermophiles which populate the streams
flowing from these springs. They cannot tolerate the boiling waters but as
these cool then the organisms thrive. |
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